Dementia, Peter Faulk and Us
Near the end of his life, the Columbo star found himself trapped in the throes of that terrible disease. This is one of the photos that was captured in Beverly Hills, during a dementia episode that saw him wander the streets in distress, claiming “he’d lost his car keys”.
Fortunately, friends eventually came to the rescue.
It’s a haunting photo though, a reminder of how the disease strips people of their dignity and even their personality, replacing it with a deep vulnerability that’s hard to observe. It’s not just that though — the photo is also sad because it was took by someone who valued getting a photo of a celebrity at their lowest, more than helping them. That lack of humanity is tragic in itself.
On the other hand, the photo is a powerful and salient reminder not to take our good years for granted, for none of us know what’s waiting for us tomorrow.
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When I saw this story from Peter about Peter Faulk I was moved. Everyone born before the milenium should remember him. I certainly do. Grew up with him as a little boy.
But the real scary part is dementia that could hit any of us. There are some that we get directly from our parents or ancestors but others we get because we are ageing and thoe Neurons are not firing as well like the spark plugs on an old car. Others because an accident. My mom came down with it because of a stroke and it was more than I thought I could bear at times. I was close to my mom and always depended on her. Strange enough five years ago I noticed I was loosing my short term memory. I was having a lot of problems with numbers and names were a challenged. The scans didn't show anything like obvious damage but our memory depends on something you can't see. It's electrical and based on chemicals that are shot from storage to where we can see it like a movie. My memory problems are still there but I don't think is advancing. I told my doctor that the cause of it is that I have put so much on my brain that is leaking because of the pressure. I do't have to tell what he did......laugh hard!
Let's try to be nice to each other if we can because we never know when they aree going to help us cross the street.
Mom is on the left with white sweater, heaalthy and strong, my loving teacher Josefina Huertas and me on my seminary graduation.{Third honor plague on my hands and diploma of 3 yrs}
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